The Peru Diaries part five: Pepe, baby deer legs, and a place they call Machu Picchu

The second day of the Salkantay trail was considerably less difficult than the first. The previous night's rain had drastically mollified the dust situation and we didn't have to contend with extreme altitudes or temperatures this time. Just pretty, peaceful trails. Ahh.

We spent the morning passing through more of the jungle-like area and making the occasional stop to learn about the local flora from Chabo, who displayed an impressive understanding about root what prevented this and what leaf what healed that. My favorite part of the morning hike was seeing the various bridges and waterfalls along the way. Each was unique in its size and grandeur.

Sexy bucket hat makes a reappearance.

Around halfway through the morning hike, we walked by somebody's home on a small, farm-like plot of land. Now we'd seen many stray dogs on our trip so far - they were everywhere from in the cities to out in the middle of the mountains and almost all of them had been very friendly and well-fed - but we met a special puppy at this place, one that Chabo named "Pepe". I'd casually tossed Pepe a peanut when we passed him and he ended up leaving his home and following us on the trail. Ten minutes later and he was still with our group. Twenty, then thirty, then forty. Pepe was still there.

Pepe (the golden puppy on the right) and friends from the small farm.

Chabo, the boy, Pepe & Pepe's friends

At around the hour-long mark, Pepe's companionship was starting to worry us a little. He was just a puppy and I was growing increasingly anxious that he wouldn't have the energy or the strength to make the trek back to the farm by himself. So I did what I had to - I shooed him away by yelling "Go home, Pepe!" and by throwing rocks in his general direction (never close enough to hit him). As his playful running subsided, his doggy smile dropped into a remorseful look and he eventually slinked away from the trail. I think shooing that puppy was probably the meanest thing I'd done in a while and it made me feel pretty rotten afterwards. But it was for the best! Or so we thought... because about just thirty minutes later, we encountered another group that had caught up to us, and lo and behold - there was Pepe, happily bounding alongside. That group went into a different farm to rest but the dogs there chased Pepe out (rude!), so he ran up along us, tail-a-waggin' and tongue-a-hangin' like nothing had happened. I didn't have the heart to shoo him away a second time - and so we were reunited with our canine friend, but feeling slightly less guilty, for it seemed that this time it was destiny and not a peanut that brought Pepe back to us.

Pepe accompanied us all the way to our end destination, a small but lively village with many other dogs. Passing through it, we came across several dogs who looked just like Pepe that would sniff at and carefully examine him - the boy and I think they were actually members of Pepe's family. While we'll never know for sure what happened to the little guy, Pepe did seem to enjoy himself and settle in nicely with the other dogs of the ending village. I hope his original owners aren't cursing us for having helped relocate him.

This was also where we had our last lunch with Walter, and boy did he he outdo himself. On the menu were juice, soup, pasta, guacamole, fresh vegetables, steak, and quinoa. Everything was scrumptious. I think it was one of the best meals I've ever had in my life.

Pausing for a photo op with Walter before digging in. All thumbs way up!

After lunch, we rode in a van for about an hour and a half into the forest preserve area near Machu Picchu. We then embarked on the last hike of the Salkantay trail, a three-hour walk, most of which was alongside train tracks that would bring us into the town of Aguas Calientes.

After a day and a half of going up and downhill, flat terrain was a welcome change.

These interesting local flowers were dubbed "baby's shoes." They were often used in funerals for miscarriages or babies who didn't survive birth as a way of aiding their passage to baby heaven.

A rare pop of colorful flora in front of a home we passed.

Mammoth boulders that are submerged during the wet season. Over the years they have been smoothed and whitened by the flowing water, producing this beautiful, almost fake-looking effect.

At the end of our afternoon hike, we reached Aguas Calientes with sore legs and very, very tired spirits. And of course, our hostel was all the way at the end of a long uphill climb. I could practically hear the tendons and muscles in my legs screaming in protest as we made our way up slopes of the tourist town, passing restaurants and bars touting happy hour specials that we ignored. We were greeted at Puma's hostel with big smiles and welcomes from our friends who'd stayed behind in Cuzco. It must've been comical for them to see us attempt to get upstairs to our rooms. My trusty legs had become so wobbly and reluctant to move, they almost gave out on me. I felt like a baby deer taking its first steps.

Since a dozen or so travelers had all arrived at once at the small hostel, we had to make do with cold showers. It's hard to describe what I was really feeling at that point - blinding fatigue mixed in with eternal gratitude for indoor plumbing, clean towels, and soft, soft beds, maybe? Anyhoo, dragging myself back downstairs and keeping my eyelids open through dinner used my remaining ounces of willpower. After dinner, when I got returned to the hostel (legs numb at this point), I managed to pop in a few ibuprofens before crawling under the covers and seriously passing the fuck out.

The next morning, I woke up feeling much better with seven hours of sleep under my belt. But all three guys in our group, the boy in particular, were in a pretty bad state from having been kept up by a confused rooster that had decided 2 AM was a good time to start its crowing routine. After a very snappy breakfast, we hurried out so we could beat the lines and see the site before it got crowded. After all, the chance to see the sun rise over a world wonder doesn't present itself every day, sleep deprivation notwithstanding. 

We walked down to the bus area at around 4:45 in the morning and met Chabo there, who'd been standing in line for about thirty minutes to hold a place in line for us. When he'd first told us of this plan the previous night, we were too tired to ponder the consequences, but when we took our place in line that morning, our neighbors were less than pleased with us for having, in their eyes, cut them in line. It was a pretty awkward situation and while I would not do it again to avoid the hassel of annoyed neighbors, I don't think we were necessarily in the wrong, either. We saw several other tour groups do the same thing in front of us, and despite the people behind us in line saying it wasn't fair, we were in a different country where it seemed to be the norm to have tour guides hold their group's places in line. Besides, we were following his instructions. I don't know. I guess what was sorta funny was that a.) being among the front buses turned out to be worse position-wise than the back ones as the first buses pulled up further from the visitor entrance to the site and b.) the woman who'd been nagging on us the most ended up cutting the line once we got to Machu Picchu. Life is funny that way.

Machu Picchu was definitely the crowning jewel of my visit to Peru. There was a quiet mystery and calmness surrounding the historical site, and yet there was life there - llamas strolling around, lush green grass, even the water systems still running same as how they'd been built over five hundred years ago.

A little background on Machu Picchu: it was built in the 1400's by the Incans to honor their leader Pachacuti. In its hay day, Machu Picchu was pretty much the shit - it was inhabited by the foremost thinkers of Incan society, like astronomers, philosophers, and most importantly, religious leaders. In fact, religion played a huge role in its construction and architecture - so many of the rooms were reserved for worship or offerings. There was even a temple of virgins from which visiting big wigs could make a selection. 

The level of sophistication we saw in the site was nothing short of incredible. The Incans used water to break apart mammoth boulders and every single piece of stone was hand-sanded and rubbed to perfection. They also invented a series of aqueducts that would run through the city, providing water to its residents. Perhaps most impressively, they were able to keep Machu Picchu a secret from the Spaniards. To do so, they took their own mummies and possessions, covered up trails to their homes, and fled from the site. It still amazes me that this site, which was inhabited for over 100 years just 50 miles out of Cuzco, remained a secret to the world from the time it was abandoned to when it was discovered in 1911 by a historian from Yale university.

The boy and I only spent about two hours in Machu Picchu, which was sufficient time to take in the beauty of the site and learn about it from Chabo before it filled up with five trillion other tourists. The rest of the group continued the tour and the hike up through Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind the site. The boy and I opted to board a bus back to the hostel to uhm, partake in a dia de diarrhea that ensued on the boy's part. In the afternoon, while he rested, I met up with our other friends and visited the natural hot springs after which Aguas Calientes was named. It was nice to do something completely indulgent and the warm water proved to be therapeutic for our sore legs.

At night, we ducked into a restaurant to grab some pizza to go for our train ride. Fun fact: Peruvian pizzerias have not taken to the idea of putting their cheesy creations into cardboard boxes. Instead, the chefs attempted to stuff the steaming hot pizzas into plastic bags. We politely declined the bags and opted to just eat the pizzas ourselves en route to the train station. 

Another canine friend. This one we encountered at a cafe outside of Machu Picchu.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Pizzas

Three hours later, a train and a bus ride later found us back in our beloved Hotel Andenes al Cielo, where warm beds and the luggage we'd left for safekeeping were waiting for us. We said goodbye to two of our friends (who were at the end of their trip) and called it a night, for we had an early flight the next morning out of Cuzco and into Puerto Maldonado, where we were to embark on the next phase of our vacation - the Amazonian rainforest! Stay tuned to hear all about sweaty hikes, rustic cabins and tarantulas galore!